Chelsea won 2-1 at Tottenham and Manchester United edged Middlesbrough 1-0 on Monday to reach the FA Cup semifinals. Second-half goals by Andriy Shevchenko and Shaun Wright-Phillips put Chelsea ahead in a quarterfinal replay at White Hart Lane before Robbie Keane replied for Spurs from the penalty spot.
Fast food giant McDonald’s is set to begin a campaign to redefine "McJob" entries in British dictionaries, which it believes are both incorrect and insulting to its workers, the <i>Financial Times</i> reported on Tuesday. "We believe that it is out of date, out of touch with reality and, most importantly, it is insulting …," wrote David Fairhurst, the company’s chief people officer in northern Europe.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is using ”hit squads” to crack down on opposition politicians and activists, Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview. ”Mugabe is a violent man and he doesn’t hide it, especially where his power is threatened … No excuses, no regrets, the defiance epitomises his attitude,” said Tsvangirai.
Aston Villa held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw on Sunday in the Premier League and Charlton improved their chances of avoiding relegation with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle. Fourth-placed Liverpool nearly earned all three points at Villa Park but goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen pushed substitute Robbie Fowler’s header around the post in the 88th minuted.
A passenger in first class woke up to a shock when he found himself sitting near a corpse on a British Airways flight, British newspapers reported. Paul Trinder (54) said cabin crew moved the body of the woman from the economy section where she had died after take-off, the Mirror and Sun tabloids said.
David Beckham insists he’s going to Major League Soccer to increase the game’s popularity in the United States. ”I know it’s never going to be as big as American football, basketball or baseball, but I believe I can help take it to a higher level,” Beckham was quoted as saying in Friday’s edition of Sport magazine.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s likely successor will not reverse a decision to replace Britain’s nuclear deterrent, despite dissent in the governing Labour Party, a senior party official said on Thursday. A parliamentary vote on the issue on Wednesday saw 87 Labour lawmakers vote against government plans to renew the submarine-based Trident missile system.
The international community should take a "far tougher line" against Sudan over atrocities in Darfur to prevent extremism spreading across Africa, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday. In an interview on Sky News television, Blair offered a robust defence of his views on combating radicalism and said countries need to act to prevent future security threats.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday he was ”sorry” for his country’s role in the slave trade. Blair has previously expressed ”deep sorrow” for slavery, abolished within the British empire 200 years ago, but has been criticised by black rights organisations for not going further.
Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 on Wednesday to close within six points of English Premier League leaders Manchester United. Frank Lampard converted a penalty in the 28th minute for his 20th goal of the season after winger Salomon Kalou was fouled by defender Micah Richards.
European and Asian stocks dropped on Wednesday after Wall Street chalked its second-biggest point decline in four years and rattled already nervous markets worldwide. The tumble came just as international markets were recovering from sharp declines earlier this month.
Billionaire George Soros pledged -million on Wednesday to fight a deadly strain of tuberculosis in Africa. Since an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was identified in South Africa last year, health experts have repeatedly issued dire warnings about the disease’s spread across the continent.
Manchester United turned David Beckham into an international superstar and on Tuesday he bid an emotional farewell to Old Trafford before he quits European soccer for the United States. Beckham joined United in 1991 at 16, debuted the next year, and transferred in 2003 to Real Madrid.
A fund to help Africa overcome obstacles to trade and investment is set to launch its first projects in East Africa after strong backing from corporate donors, officials said on Tuesday. The Investment Climate Facility (ICF) said latest contributors to the fund included Microsoft and South Africa’s Standard Bank.
Five members of a British embassy group missing for two weeks in a remote part of Ethiopia have been released and are safe and well, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Tuesday.
The English Football Association announced on Monday that it would not be taking any action against Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho after he called referee Mike Riley a ”son of a whore”. Television cameras picked up Mourinho telling Riley he was a ”filho da puta” during an altercation at half-time in Chelsea’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham in the FA Cup quarterfinal on Sunday.
Ford has agreed to sell its iconic Aston Martin brand for just more than £470-million (R6,65-billion) to a British-led consortium, the United States firm said on Monday. The luxury car maker is famous for its long-running association with the James Bond blockbuster films.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho found himself engulfed by controversy once again on Monday after television microphones apparently caught him calling referee Mike Riley a ”son of a whore” in Portuguese during Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
Stuart Pearce vowed to battle on as the pressure on his position increased following Manchester City’s 2-0 FA Cup quarterfinal defeat at 10-man Blackburn. Pearce’s fate at Eastlands, where he has been in charge since replacing former England coach Kevin Keegan in March 2005, could be decided in the next few days after another poor performance by his side.
Chelsea stormed back from two goals down to snatch a 3-3 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in an electrifying FA Cup quarterfinal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Hossam Ghaly and an own goal by Michael Essien gave Tottenham a 3-1 half-time lead as they looked set to end a 17-year wait for a win at Stamford Bridge.
Cristiano Ronaldo converted a second-half penalty to give Manchester United a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup on Saturday. Ronaldo’s 17th goal of the season came in the 68th minute after a hand ball from Middlesbrough captain George Boateng. ”We never gave in and we got our deserved equaliser,” Man United coach Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports News.
Ireland’s 19-18 win over Scotland, their third Triple Crown triumph, in four years was overshadowed on Saturday by a row over an alleged choking assault on flyhalf Ronan O’Gara. Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan claimed after the match that an unidentified Scots player had left O’Gara blue in the face and close to losing consciousness.
FW De Klerk, in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, said that non-black people in South Africa feel like ”second-class” citizens. ”… affirmative action has led to a substantial percentage of not only Afrikaners, but of all whites and coloureds and Indians feeling that their groups are being reduced to a sort of second-class citizenship,” he told the paper.
Captain Thierry Henry will not play for Arsenal for the rest of this season due to injuries, the Premier League club said on Friday. The France striker, who damaged stomach and groin muscles in his team’s Champions League exit to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday, should be ready for next season, Arsenal said.
Britain and Ireland urged Northern Ireland’s politicians on Friday to agree to a power-sharing government after assembly elections in the province or face continued direct rule from London. The vote, widely viewed as a test of support for joint rule, was dominated by the Protestant pro-British Democratic Unionist Party and Catholic Sinn Fein.
Northern Ireland took a step towards restoring a government shared between Protestants and Catholics as it counted votes on Thursday from an election for a new provincial assembly. A strong showing for the main parties on both sides of the divide at Wednesday’s ballot could strengthen prospects for a return to sharing power.
British actor John Inman, famous for his role as an eccentric shop assistant in the BBC comedy Are You Being Served?, died on March 8 at the age of 71, his manager said. Inman died in the early hours at Saint Mary’s Hospital in west London after a long battle with hepatitis A.
An English police force faced a civil lawsuit on Thursday from a young woman who was punched five times by a police officer as he arrested her during a scuffle outside a nightclub last year. The South Yorkshire Police in northern England defended the conduct of the officer.
Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise. Fans of biofuels give the impression we could soon be running cars on maize, producing electricity with sugar, and getting power from palm oil.
The British Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday it would investigate claims of racist behaviour towards black Commonwealth soldiers serving in the British Army. The move comes as Belize-born Marlon Clancy announced he was setting up an independent union for 6 000 Commonwealth soldiers in the army to help them deal with racism.
Liverpool ended FC Barcelona’s reign in the Champions League by knocking the defending champions out of the competition on Tuesday. Inter Milan and Lyon — the league champions of Italy and France — also were eliminated, while English champions Chelsea advanced.
British police are probing whether a key aide to Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to ”shape evidence” in a cash-for-honours investigation clouding his last months in office, a report said on Tuesday. The Guardian newspaper report came despite efforts to gag the media from reporting the contents of an alleged email thought to be central to the inquiry.